The Thief's Knight
by A Lovestruck A2
Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on. Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is the new fic and yet another contribution to JaunexEmerald fics from me. This idea is a little different from most of my other works, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 1***

Jaune Arc sighed as he slumped in his desk at the Vale Police Department. About a dozen styrofoam cups of room-temperature coffee littered it, along with a ridiculous amount of paperwork that he had been putting off for about a week. The mere sight of tan folders produced a headache, and he grabbed the nearest cup to sniff its contents. Satisfied it wasn't rancid, he downed it in a hurry, wiping a bit of excess from his chin. "ORF, replay all voicemails from today, please. And play some music, too; 'Why Are We Here?' by the Achieve Men will do nicely." _'Today has been an utter shitshow. I honestly don't get paid enough for this; I ought to put in a request for a pay rise. I've earned it.'_

The young officer had been running around all day, and just wanted a damn break; he had to deal with a speeding party-girl on a motorcycle, one of his superiors calling out due to a hangover, and it wasn't even ten in the morning yet. The light green numbers on his computer screen glowed '9:39', and he resisted the urge to plant his head firmly on his desk. _'The only thing that would do is knock over all those damn cups, and then I'd have to deal with yet another headache.'_

" _Going through all voice messages,"_ ORF chirped happily, a steady rock rhythm blasting from the pair of speakers underneath his desk. The artificial intelligence program was provided to him by his direct superior, Captain Branwen, upon joining the force. _"You have one new message, from Captain Belladonna."_

"Play it through."

" _Jaune, a store owner is reporting a thief breaking into his store only thirty minutes ago this morning,"_ the message played. _"As soon as you get this, head down to it immediately. The location is 5936 Fifth Avenue."_

Jaune groaned. _'Dammit.'_ He really hated how he was the damn errand boy now. "Why is it always me who has to deal with this crap?"

" _Well Mr. Arc, I presume it's because—"_

"Rhetorical question, ORF. I know damn well why," the blonde grumbled. He stood up, pulling his jacket from the arms of his chair and fitting it on. He walked over to the coffee machine to pour a fresh cup, mixing in milk and two sugars, and fitted a lid on it to prevent it from spilling on the way. "Keep an eye on everything while I'm gone, okay? If anyone calls, direct them to voicemail." _'So much for hoping it would be a slow day.'_

The music cut off, and Jaune passed by one of the secretaries on his way out, Ruby. "Hiya Jaune! What's going on?" She was hired only three months ago by her uncle, Captain Branwen, and she was very eager to make the most out of the opportunity given to her. Her neat dark hair was combed to perfection, and her slender fingers moved over her keyboard frantically.

"Got a call about a break-in," Jaune answered. "Captain Belladona wanted me to investigate it as soon as possible." _'Do they always call me because I'm reliable, or is it because they just enjoy seeing me run around town?'_ Out of everyone in the Vale Police Department, it seemed as though Jaune was the one who was called on the most to deal with problems ranging from domestic disputes to break-ins. He once had to deal with a situation in which a teenager was being chased by a drunken partier who was trying to dump ramen noodles on his head. Definitely not one of Jaune's better cases.

"Oh, cool!" Ruby replied cheerfully, pumping her fist into the air as a way to cheer him on. "Go get 'em! Don't let those baddies get away with it!"

Her youthful enthusiasm managed to bring a smile to Jaune's lips, and he chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's just a matter of looking at the security cameras and getting a good look at the culprit's face. After that, a warrant and two days of searching should solve it. Nothing too big." _'I suppose if anything, it is a good way for me to keep getting experience in the field. Branwen always insists there's no substitute for field experiences.'_

He walked outside, taking a sip of coffee, and was instantly greeted by warm sunshine and the familiar bustling of a city during the peak of noon. People were all over the place, rushing to get to a coffee shop to catch up with friends or trying to get back to work after their lunch break was up.

He could also hear the chattering of birds, and he ran a hand through his messy mop of hair before walking over to his squad car. "Alright. Time to get back to work." He fished the keys to his car from his back pocket, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Jaune started the engine, a low grumbling now vibrating his seat, and the blonde officer leaned over to put his coffee in a cup holder and open the glove compartment to fish out a notepad and pen; he'd need to take notes, if he wanted to keep everything nice and organized and prevent even more paperwork spilling onto his desk.

Once those two items were stashed in the cavernous pockets of his uniform, he drove off towards the scene of the incident, only to groan in annoyance. "Oh for fuck's sake." _'Goddammit. I should've known I'd run into this.'_ He had hit the afternoon traffic, and it was bad; the line he was in was easily backed up a good two blocks, and he had to resist slamming his forehead into the steering wheel and honking the horn.

Jaune spied an empty side street to his right, and he quickly turned the wheel and sped off towards it in a hurry. His scroll vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see that Captain Qrow Branwen was calling him. _'The old man's probably on one of his drunken rants again. That, or he's getting over the hangover and coming in after all.'_ "Hello?"

" _Hey, kid,"_ Qrow groaned out. _"Did you get Ghira's message?"_ His voice was mostly a slur, and it was easy to picture him either half naked with a bottle of whiskey in hand or stumbling around the office drunkenly giggling like an idiot as he bumped into absolutely everything he could.

' _Of course he's still drunk. Maybe Ruby ought to start hiding his whiskey. That ought to solve a few headaches,'_ Jaune thought dryly. "Yeah, I did. I'm heading over to the place now. Are you actually going to bother showing up, or is Sun going to have to cover for your drunk ass again?" The old man really had a problem; Jaune hadn't forgotten the New Year's party last year, during which Qrow proceeded to raid the entire alcohol cabinet and drink nearly everything. In his drunken stupor, Qrow tried to get a demolition team to knock down the house of someone he didn't like and had sex with some random girl on his desk. It took a few apologies and several thousand lien to repair the damage, but it was still something that Ghira, Sun, Ruby, and Jaune had PTSD from.

" _Whoa, I don't have a problem at all."_

"The New Year's incident begs to differ."

" _Gee, do I have to ask to borrow the car this weekend, Dad?"_ Qrow returned mockingly. _"Yeah, I'm coming in. The headache's mostly gone; I'll take a shower and be in to lend you a hand with that mountain of paperwork on your desk. Oum knows we both need to get back on schedule."_

"What's this 'we' bullshit? I'm not the one who calls out every three days due to a hangover."

" _You wise-ass. I'm going to teach you a lesson when I get in,"_ the older man jokingly threatened. _"Catch ya later kid. And one more thing; don't let Ruby eat all the doughnuts. We don't need a repeat of last week."_

Jaune laughed as he pulled out of the side-street and back onto one of the main roads into downtown Vale. He had a good memory of the incident in particular, and a week later, it still produced laughs at the station whenever it was brought up.

One of Jaune's partners, Ren, had brought in about six dozen doughnuts for everyone at the station from the bakery ran by his girlfriend Nora to commemorate them solving the case of a string of uptown murders and placing the culprit firmly behind bars. More like a soundproof metal vault guarded by two dozen armed men and women, but still.

And Ruby ate every last one, prompting possibly the world's most intense sugar rush. Poor girl literally bounced around the station, sending paperwork flying and causing the biggest mess Qrow and Jaune had ever seen. After the damage had been done and both Sun and Ghira managed to restrain Ruby until the sugar rush wore off, the place looked as bad as it did during the New Year's party. Except no one got laid and no demolition crew was involved. Jaune was just thankful that Qrow's lieutenant, Glynda Goodwitch, was able to fix the offices in a matter of ten seconds.

Jaune found the store that had suffered the burglary across the street, and he was surprised to see another officer had also gotten the call. He pulled up next to the sidewalk, and observed the scene from inside his car. The doors had yellow police tape over them to ward off any passerby, and Jaune stepped out of his car to greet the distressed owner. He was an elderly man with very small eyes, and he was balding. His hands were moving frantically in despair, and he was conversing with the other officer, Coco Adel.

Jaune got close enough to hear their conversation, both unaware of his presence.

"She just stole everything in my fucking refrigerator!" he complained. "I was saving that food for a friend's birthday party! I want that little thief to be strung from the gallows!"

"We don't hang people for petty theft," Coco sighed, apparently trying hard not to face-palm. "The most we'd be able to do, realistically, is have them either do community service for an extended period of time or pay a hefty fine. Either way, this isn't like someone took everything from you at gunpoint."

"Alright, I'm here." Jaune announced his presence, making Coco turn to him. "So, what's the situation?" _'Really? Someone nicked his friend's lunch, so he wants to hang them? We don't live in the Grimm Ages anymore, for fuck's sake.'_

"Someone got hungry and decided to steal all this guy's food," Coco answered in boredom. "In my opinion, this is one we should just keep an eye out for. Not worth combing the damn city and wasting supplies and time."

"Hmm." Jaune started scribbling down notes in his notepad, looking at the victim of the theft. "Did they take anything else besides the food? Any money or anything of value?" _'Hm. Seems a little fishy to me. Something about this is off.'_

"No," the shopkeeper answered, his hands tight. "She just took a platter of roast chicken and mashed potatoes and ran."

"You have a description?" Jaune pressed, writing down more.

"Yes. A young black girl with green hair and red eyes," the old man replied. "Looked rather raggedy. One of those stupid hoodlums, I bet."

Jaune didn't listen; he was too busy thinking, and he only felt a pang of pity for the thief. From the description given to him, and the fact she only took the food, he was able to piece together the motives. _'Poor girl probably lives on the streets, and has to resort to stealing in order to survive. It's sickening to make her live like the rats.'_

The blonde closed his notepad, and he sighed. "Coco, I'm going out on patrol to keep an eye out. There are bigger fish to fry than this one."

"Gotcha."

"Wait! You're just going to let her get away with this shit!?" the owner demanded. "She should pay for her—"

"How about you let that decision rest with the actual law enforcement?" Coco suggested dryly. "Like he said, he will be keeping an eye out for the culprit. However, due to motives that appear to be out of desperation rather than malice, an arrest shouldn't be necessary."

She gave the blonde a subtle wink, telling him she had the situation with the owner under control, and Jaune silently sent a prayer to Oum as he made his way to his car. _'Thank God Coco is more patient when it comes to dealing with these kind of people. I wish I had that patience sometimes.'_

He got to his car, stepped in, and left the scene.

The inside of the car was hot, even though he had only been outside for maybe five minutes at the most, and he groaned in annoyance as the hot leather burned him. "Ow..."

Jaune rubbed his trouser legs, and he drove down the street with his blue gaze looking for anyone who'd match the description given to him. He frowned when he saw a flash of lime green out of the corner of his eye after he drove a few blocks. _'Is that her?'_

He pulled to the curb, stepping out of his vehicle and walking over to where he saw the color. It was a back-alley of some sorts, with a large dark green dumpster at the back. And like he suspected, there was the girl.

She was indeed wearing ragged clothing; stains littered her dark green pants, the knees were ripped, and her shirt was riddled with tears. Her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and she was crouched down on the dirty ground wolfing down the food she had stolen from the store earlier; it was probably the first thing she'd eaten in a week.

Jaune couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. Here in front of him was the poor girl who truly had nothing and had to fight every day for her own survival. _'This is just horrible. I feel nothing but pity for her. No one deserves to live like this.'_

She must have heard him coming, for her red eyes widened in panic and she tried to run, only to realize she was caught in a dead end. She looked around, and her voice quivered in fear as he approached. "P-please…"

"Don't worry," Jaune smiled in an attempt to show her that he wasn't some creep who wanted to do utterly revolting things or beat her. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise." _'She's beyond terrified. I guess she's used to people trying to do disgusting things to her and now fears others as a whole.'_

The girl's back was pressed against the grimy brick wall, shaking like a leaf, and the blonde officer knelt down to not intimidate her. "What's your name, miss?"

"E-emerald…" the girl answered, still trembling.

"Emerald…that's a nice name," Jaune murmured quietly. "What's a young girl like you doing out here? The streets are no place for someone to live."

"I...I don't have anywhere to stay…" she answered, no longer trembling as she started to feel just a little more comfortable around the young officer.

"No family?"

Emerald shook her head, and Jaune felt sickened. He always had it relatively easy, coming from a family that supported him and his life choices. But here, he saw just how cruel the world could really be, and he found he had a choice to make. Either he could take her in, or leave her like everyone else.

And he'd be damned if he was going to follow in the footsteps of those who did nothing.

His scroll crackled, and he muted it, not wanting to deal with Sun's shenanigans at the moment. The girl's red eyes traveled all over his uniform, and she swallowed. "A-are you going to arrest me?"

"No," Jaune answered, extending his hand. Emerald tentatively reached out, taking it, and Jaune stood up.

"I'm going to do what no one else is willing to do."

 _ **A/N: This note is longer than usual, because I want to alert you all of a few things. The idea of the 'Officer Jaune' AU came during the writing process for both Bended and Jaune's Bad Girl and I thought it would be more interesting to do something like that instead of following canon.**_

 _ **One of the problems early on that delayed this fic was this:**_

 _ **How am I going to rope everything together, especially considering this has an age gap. In the beginning of this fic, Emerald's about 14-15, and Jaune's 21. You can imagine the issues I'm having. So, I decided to go for a more realistic approach.**_

 _ **We won't actually see romantic feelings begin to blossom until Emerald's a little more into her teenage years, and when they do, they'll have to go through the struggles of trying to keep it under wraps. Because let's face it, not a lot of people (even in today's society) approve of a romantic relationship between an adult and their adopted child, even if they are both of consenting age.**_

 _ **Furthermore, this will have relatively irregular updates until A Drunken Marriage of Thievery is completed. Once that fic is done, this one will slot into that bi-weekly update schedule. Until that one is complete though, the most you can expect is an update once a month. This is just to keep me from getting completely swamped with my current workload at the moment.**_

 _ **If you have any further questions, you can find me on Discord; my name is below.**_

 _ **Discord: DPLxBeAsTxSnIpE #5371**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Here we are. This note will be a little longer than usual, because again I need to clarify a few things.**_

 _ **1). The age gap has been established. That's not changing.**_

 _ **2). There WILL NOT be any actual romance between Em and Jaune for a long time. That will happen in her LATER teenage years. I figure around 17-18 is a good time to start, because Emerald will be more mature physically and mentally. Boom, problem solved.**_

 _ **3). There will be no Grimm in this. It's entirely an AU, so it wouldn't make any sense to bring them in, or Dust. I don't know where RT got the inspiration for that at all (looks at materia from Final Fantasy VII). No idea…**_

 _ **4). Because we still to this day don't know how much lien is worth monetary-wise, I'm going with this: every 10 lien equals 1 US dollar.**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 2***

Jaune looked over at Emerald as he drove to a sandwich shop nearby in Vale. The girl hadn't said much since he picked her up out of the alleyway. She kept her red gaze firmly on the floor of the car, occasionally shuffling her feet nervously, and the blonde felt a pang of sympathy as he put a hand on her bare shoulder to reassure her. "Hey, you have nothing to worry about. I promise. Ease up a little."

"S-sorry," Emerald stammered. "I'm not used to having someone even look at me, let alone talk." She fiddled with her messy ponytail, looking around his car and swallowing a lump that had built up in her throat.

"That bad, huh?" Jaune breathed, turning onto the proper street. "I won't swear, but people who see another person suffering like you and don't offer a helping hand can go rot. It's sickening. And yet they'll be the first ones to complain about beggars roaming the streets." _'Ridiculous. It's so hypocritical.'_

The blonde found the shop in particular, and he pulled up next to the curb, unclipping his seatbelt and turning his car off. "Well, here we are. I imagine you must be hungry?"

Emerald gave him a quiet nod, and her hands fumbled with her seatbelt. She eventually managed to unclip it, and the young girl followed Jaune inside the small restaurant.

It was cozy, a favorite hotspot for both the Vale Police Department and the older students of the city's main high school. And the food was nothing to sneeze at; the place was run by one of Jaune's old childhood friends, Velvet Scarlatina, and the girl knew how to cook.

The rabbit Faunus was behind the counter, and she gave Jaune a friendly wave. "Hey Jaune! I was wondering if you'd stop by. So, what will it be today? The regular?"

"Not today, I'm afraid," Jaune replied with an apologetic smile. "What's the special of the day?"

Velvet looked down at the menu on the counter, and she tapped it with a forefinger. "Ah! Today it's roast beef and fresh mozzarella with balsamic vinegar. Would you like one?"

"What do you think, Emerald? Does that sound good to you?" Jaune asked, looking down at the girl clutching his hand nervously. She hadn't said a word upon them entering, hiding behind the young officer and trying to avoid the stares others shot her way.

But upon looking up at him, she gave a small nod, blushing as her stomach growled loudly. "M-mmhm, thanks…"

"Alright then. That'll be 58 lien," Velvet said, writing the order down on a yellow notepad.

Jaune reached into his back pocket for his wallet, only to find it missing. _'Huh!?'_ "What the hell?"

"Hey, stop that thief!"

Jaune whirled around and saw someone running out of the store, and the blonde officer reached for his standard-issue pistol. "Dammit! Emerald, stay close to Velvet! I'm going after them!" _'Dammit! Of all the goddamn times for someone to pick my pocket, it has to be when I'm watching someone.'_

Emerald looked absolutely horrified, but she clung onto Velvet's waist nonetheless. "I-I will."

Jaune ran out after the pickpocket, panting as he chased the crook down. _'Here comes the part of the job I really hate.'_ "Stop! Vale Police!"

The person responsible was a woman with long blonde hair and wearing a yellow tank top with grey sweatpants, and she turned to stick her tongue out at the blonde officer. "Nya~!"

' _Alright, that fucking does it. This one gets to spend a few nights in jail,'_ Jaune mentally promised, making sure his handgun was set to stun. He aimed at her back, and squeezed the trigger. His handgun kicked, and the stun round blasted out of the barrel. The round hit the blonde thief squarely in the back, and she fell on the ground with a startled yelp, twitching slightly.

Jaune stalked over to her, pulling out his handcuffs from his belt and cuffing the girl once he hefted her to her feet. "Ma'am, you're being placed under arrest for pickpocketing and fleeing from an officer. Anything you say may or may not be used against you in a court of law. And I'll be taking my wallet back, thank you."

He plucked it from the girl's shorts, and she growled angrily at him. "Do you know who I am!? Let me go!"

"Fat chance, darling," Jaune snapped back, dragging her past a bunch of beleaguered onlookers and towards his car. "I doubt Daddy's money is going to bail you out. Seriously? Stealing from an officer of the peace? Are you intoxicated? Or just plain braindead?" _'Idiot. It's people like this who make my job harder for no goddamn reason. Qrow better give me a damn pay rise after dealing with this crap.'_

The blonde officer reached for his radio, calling Coco. "Hey, Coco. I've got a live one here. 29678 South Easton."

" _Ah, nabbed yourself a special snowflake, huh?"_ Coco chuckled. _"I was heading over there for a bite to eat. I'll be there in less than a minute."_

"Got it." Jaune's finger left the radio, and the girl he nabbed continued to glare daggers at him; if looks were actually capable of harming him, he'd be a pile of ashes by now. "Don't look at me like that. You fucked up. Now deal with the consequences and learn from it."

"Gee, thanks Dad," the girl returned angrily.

"You'd wish I was your dad," Jaune retorted. "You wouldn't be doing this kind of shit if I were. You would have been raised properly, not spoiled like some fairy princess."

He froze at his own words. He had taken Emerald off the streets already, and he did have plans of sheltering her after sorting out the necessary paperwork with the Council. Did that make him a father figure? Someone to look up to and come to for advice? _'Damn, I already sound like my old man, and I only just turned twenty-one.'_

Coco's car pulled up next to the curb, and Jaune dragged the young woman by the arm over to the other officer. "Let's go, miss."

The girl grudgingly obeyed, still shooting him dirty looks, and Jaune handed her over to Coco. "Here ya go, Mocha. Take her away. Want me to place an order for you?"

"You got it. Tell Velvet to make me a tuna on rye sandwich. And do not call me Mocha," Coco threatened, pushing the girl into the back of her car. "Or I will tell Sun to pour hot sauce in your coffee."

"So it _was_ him who put it my coffee last month," Jaune grumbled. "Good. Now I know who to get back at." _'Dammit. Of course it was Sun. Who else at the station would bother to do that? Ruby doesn't even know where the pantry is, Qrow's too drunk, Glynda has no sense of humor, and Ghira is too busy.'_

"Don't worry about this one. I got the snowflake covered," Coco replied with a smile, gesturing the angry blonde girl inside the car. She was now yelling her head off, spouting nonsense of how her daddy was going to make them suffer for arresting her. It was quite funny, even if she was obnoxious.

"Thanks. You're a life saver," Jaune breathed. "Now that you have it under control, I'm going back to enjoy my lunch." _'Damn kids these days.'_

Jaune headed back into the shop, and was immediately greeted by Emerald rushing into him. "Whoa!"

"S-sorry. I just heard a gunshot and thought the worst," Emerald murmured, burying her head into him.

Jaune gave her back a few rubs in reassurance, leaning down and smiling. "Don't worry; I'm alright. It's just another day as one of Vale's finest for me."

The scene of him giving her a hug brought out an 'aww' from Velvet, and the rabbit Faunus winked at the blonde officer. "Looks like someone has taken a bit of a liking to you. Tell you what Jaune; your order is on the house for both protecting and serving Vale properly."

"Just doing my duty," Jaune responded. He pulled out a few lien cards, throwing them onto the counter. "Don't feel obligated to not charge. Besides, Coco wants her regular order."

Velvet reluctantly took the lien, shaking her head while she typed up the order. "I'll never understand her obsession with tuna. You'd think she's part cat. Take a seat at Booth Ten; I'll have it over there within ten minutes."

"You got it. Come on, Emerald; let's take a seat." Jaune led the quiet girl to the empty booth, and he took a seat across from her.

"Now…how old are you, exactly?" Jaune asked once he was comfortable.

Emerald fiddled with her hands, her red eyes filled with nervousness. "F-fifteen, sir."

"Please, no need for formalities. Just call me Jaune, okay?"

"Yes…Jaune."

"Were you in school at all?" Jaune asked, pulling out the notepad and pencil from his back pocket and scribbling down a few notes; he'd need as much information as he could get if he wanted to continue on with his (at least at the moment) ambitious plan of possibly adopting the young girl. She needed a father figure and a place to stay.

And if that meant taking on that role himself, so be it. _'I'm not dumb enough to think it'll be sunshine and rainbows. There will be a few rough patches along the way. But at the same time, I'm willing to do it. I'm done wasting my time bitching and complaining without doing something about it.'_

"N-not really," Emerald replied. "I was in elementary school, but that's it. I didn't go past sixth grade."

"Damn. That's rough. But don't worry too much about it; I can pull a few strings with the Council later." Jaune frowned. He didn't like calling on favors if he could avoid it. But, he had a feeling this was one he wasn't going to be able to just use his skills of bullshitting for. _'Dammit. I just hope the Council lets me do this.'_

"The Council?" Emerald asked curiously. "Why would you go and meet them?"

"For adoption," Jaune answered with a smile. "As one of Vale's finest, it's my duty to protect and serve the people of this city. Making sure you have a place to stay fits under that."

"Y-you mean it? You'll take me in?" Emerald's eyes were welling up with tears of happiness, threatening to burst.

"I will," Jaune promised, putting a gloved hand over hers. "I have more than enough space, since I live by my lonesome. I just need to file out some paperwork with the Council, and it'll be official." _'It'll be hard. But it's the right thing to do.'_

Emerald leaned over and hugged him tightly, her thin arms wrapping tightly around his body. "Thank you…thank you so much."

"You're welcome. And don't be afraid to come to me for things; I'm here to help you."

"Okay. I will."

Velvet soon came over with the order, and Jaune had to admit it.

He did choose a rather pleasant day to become a father.

 _ **A/N: Sorry to say, but that's it for today. This fic is actually really fucking hard for me to write for some reason, and I really despise that. Especially since this fic has some decent popularity (160 plus follows for only one chapter).**_

 _ **I'll see if I can get another chapter out next month, but I don't have any promises. Like I said in the previous chapter, this story will have relatively irregular updates until A Drunken Marriage Of Thievery is complete, and even then the updates won't be scheduled. I really do envy the writers who can update every week.**_

 _ **Discord: DPLxBeAsTxSnIpE #5371**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hey all. Been awhile since I last updated, but here it is. I honestly admit I don't have a solid long-term plan for this fic; this is one of those things that I'm going to write for until I run out of ideas. So if this fic eventually gets dropped, you all know why.**_

 _ **Also, my bad for the massive hiatus. I didn't mean for it to happen, I swear. Put the pitchforks down…*ducks as one is thrown* Hey, that's the opposite of what I said!**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 3***

The trip to the Vale Council was rather intimidating, Jaune found himself admitting. He and Emerald had just finished their lunch at Velvet's shop, and the drive to the Council Hall seemed to take a lot longer than the twenty minutes it supposedly did. Jaune had never been to the Council except for the average court appearances whenever he issued a ticket for something, and he honestly did not want to have to spend any more time than he had to.

The marble building loomed ahead, menacingly so, and Jaune sighed before he started to make his way up the smooth steps, one hand gripping the metal handrail tightly in case he slipped and fell.

Emerald clutched onto his other hand firmly, her red eyes nervously darting back and forth at the various officials and lawyers who briskly walked ahead of them.

"Nervous?" Jaune asked.

Emerald nodded, and Jaune gave her a gentle pat on the head. "Don't worry; it shouldn't take too long." He noticed the way she flinched when he made a move. It was a bad sign; it showed that she was far too used to abuse and torment.

Getting her to not instinctively flinch was going to be one hell of a work in progress. It would take months, even years, to undo the mental scarring that being neglected had done to her.

Jaune gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Everything is gonna be okay." At least, he hoped it would. He knew how hard it was to adopt children from the foster homes, but taking in someone off the streets would make it more difficult.

Jaune frowned and stopped at the top of the stairs. He was already set in his decision to take her in, and would fight tooth and nail to make sure he succeeded. But the court process could take possibly months, and even then it might not go in his favor. _'Can I really put her through that kind of anguish?'_

He shook his head. His heart wouldn't let him do it.

"Emerald, come with me," he said quietly. "Screw the damn Council."

She looked at him in confusion, fear creeping into her eyes. "W-what do you mean?"

"Emerald, the Council is known for being corrupt," Jaune explained. "The official adoption process in Vale is probably the most difficult in the world, even more so that Atlas. I can't in good faith put you through that. So, to hell with them. I'm taking you in regardless."

Emerald gave him a tight hug, quietly sobbing into his chest. "I was so scared you were going to change your mind…"

Jaune ruffled her hair, holding her against him. "Hey, I promised I'd take you in. An Arc never goes back on their promise, no matter what." Only one member of the Arc family had ever tried to go back on their word, and that was Jaune's uncle Felix. He had broken the oath he took in the military and became a mercenary, fighting for whoever had the most money.

Felix was the only member of the family currently disowned and Jaune had no desire to follow in his footsteps.

"Now, what do you say we go home?"

* * *

For three long years, Emerald only knew life as living on the streets of the city like the rats, barely surviving each day. The winter was by far the worst; she would be kept up awake at night from shivering underneath the dirty ragged coat she would use as a makeshift blanket.

But now, she wouldn't have to worry about that for now she had a home to live in and someone to care for her as if she was their own child. She couldn't put how grateful she was into words.

"It's not much," Jaune said, looking around. "But, it's home."

"It's the best place I've ever been," Emerald whispered. She leapt at him, tears of happiness flooding from her eyes like a rainstorm. Jaune patted her back, giving her a friendly smile.

He was honest, Emerald decided. He was nothing like the people who did occasionally glance at her with leers and eyes filled with malicious intent. His blue eyes were warm, encouraging.

"Take a look around," he invited. "Make yourself at home. Bathroom is two rooms down the hall on your right. Second bedroom is next to it."

"Two bedrooms?" Emerald asked. "I thought you lived alone."

"I do." Jaune nodded. "That used to be the guest room, for whenever a friend of mine would come over and spend the night. Or my boss. I have a feeling you'll feel the same way about him as I do."

"What's that?"

"A pain in the ass, but overall a decent person. He was made police chief for a reason, after all. Even if it fails to come to me at this moment."

Emerald laughed. Not only was he friendly, but he had a sense of humor to him too. Seeing as he was a part of Vale's police force, it wasn't something she expected from him. Emerald expected a firm, no nonsense personality. He almost seemed too gentle for his line of work.

His radio crackled, startling her, and the blond man sighed and answered it. "This is Jaune. Go ahead."

" _Kid, it's Qrow."_

Emerald watched as Jaune pinched his brow with an annoyed huff. "What do you want now, Qrow? I'm kinda busy here."

" _Care to tell me why my niece is in jail?"_

Jaune frowned. "But Ruby's at the office."

Emerald could hear the exasperated groan. _"I mean the other one. Yang. She came in kicking and screaming about how she was going to make you pay. Coco tried to explain it to me, but she was too busy laughing at the temper tantrum. So, I figured you could be able to tell me."_

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Oh. That one. Well, she was an idiot and tried to steal my wallet. When I told her to stop she fled the scene, so I ran after her and used stun rounds on her. Send my thanks to Ren, by the way; they're really good at stopping dumb blondes in their tracks." Emerald tried not to snicker as she remembered the events from earlier today.

" _Well, fucking great. Now Tai's going to bite my head off for this. Well, I'll make sure to tell him what she did to deserve being thrown in a cell. He won't be happy about it, but he'll agree with us about it teaching her a lesson,"_ the man replied. _"Anyway, are you coming back in? Sun's got his hands full with that last case the two of you were working on."_

Jaune frowned, and his eyes met Emerald's. "I'm not sure. I need to make a phone call to my sister first. I'll call you later. If not, I'll see you in the morning bright and early tomorrow, Qrow."

" _You got it, kid."_

The call ended, and Jaune let out a sigh. "Well, Emerald, that's your second look at what I do for a living. There are times when I regret it a little."

"Was that your boss?" the green-haired girl asked quietly. "He sounded…well, drunk."

Jaune nodded, a hint of exasperation in his eyes. "Yep. Qrow Branwen, the chief of police. Also a lover of alcohol of any kind. I think twenty-five percent of our budget goes to parties and the resulting damage."

"…please tell me that's a joke."

"I wish. You should've seen the New Year's party."

Emerald relaxed a little more. This was someone who she could be at ease around and not have to worry about hitting her for their own sick pleasure. "What do did you mean when you said you have to talk to your sister?"

"My sister Saphron lives here in Vale," he explained. "I don't have any clothes that fit you, and I know she'd be more than happy to send some. I just have to give her a quick call."

He walked over to the fridge, pulling out a bowl of pasta and sauce. "Are you still hungry?"

Emerald opened her mouth to reply, but her stomach did it for her with a loud growl. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks, and she clasped her hands over it. "Y-yes…" Today was the first time she had eaten anything so far in the week and it was Tuesday.

Jaune smiled and went to ruffle her hair. Emerald squeezed her eyes shut instinctively, but relaxed when she remembered that he was someone she could trust. _'Calm down. He's not going to hurt you. If anything, he'd hurt those who tried to hurt you.'_

His hands were slightly calloused, but not too rough. They were like those of a father.

Emerald couldn't remember her father.

Her mother had told her that he died soon after she was born. However, she never told her how he passed away; she would always change the subject and refuse to talk about it.

Her mother tried her best to take care of her as a single parent, working two jobs to put her through school.

Then, three years ago, her mother succumbed to a horrible bout of sickness and things took a turn for the worst.

None of her relatives wanted her, calling her a bastard child. They refused to take her in, and she was eventually forced onto the streets where she lived like a rat. Until now.

She'd never be able to say just how grateful she was to Jaune.

He placed the bowl in the microwave for about two minutes. "Alright, while that's heating up, you want to keep looking around the house? It is yours too, now. Don't be shy."

Emerald nodded, and she began to take a walk around.

The living room was spacious, with a large black leather couch and footrest and a decently sized television. The few lamps that sat on night tables were more than bright enough to light it up.

She doubled back and took a look at the bathroom next. Smooth tile lined the floor and half the wall. It was home to a full bathtub and shower, and the sink was sparkling clean.

Her ears perked up when she heard the microwave ping, and she darted back into the kitchen.

Jaune was already waiting for her with the bowl steaming hot. A fork was in his hands, and he placed it on the table for her. "Here you go. Dig in, but be careful; it's still pretty hot."

Emerald picked up the fork and began eating. How long had it been since she held silverware in her grasp?

Too long.

She savored every bite, and with a soft chuckle Jaune went to make his call. "Don't get sick, now."

* * *

Seeing Emerald's eyes light up as she got to be in a house instead of shivering under a worn jacket warmed Jaune's heart, and he reached for his scroll to call his eldest sister, Saphron.

It rang a few times, but she still picked up. _"Jaune? It's been awhile. How's my favorite baby brother doing?"_

Jaune rolled his eyes, but a smile was still on his face. "I'm not a baby, sis. I need to ask you for a favor."

" _Go on. I'm listening."_

"Well…do you happen to have any spare clothes that don't exactly fit you, as in they're too small?" he asked.

" _I never took you as the type to cross-dress, Jaune. I'm a little surprised. Imagine Mom's face if she finds out about your new hobby. Bad enough I'm married to a woman."_ Saphron laughed.

The blond officer sighed and face-palmed. "Haha. Real funny, sis. No, it's…it's a little hard to explain over the phone. Can you just come over with some clothes?" _'Nice to see she hasn't lost her awful sense of humor. To be honest, I probably need it dealing with the bullshit I do at work.'_

" _No problem, little bro. I'll be there in ten minutes; just let me put Adrian to bed. See you in a bit."_

Jaune hung up, and he shook his head with a chuckle. "Thanks, Saph" He could always count on his favorite sister to lend him a hand when he needed it, being the main one who supported her relationship with her wife Terra.

All he had to do now was wait for her. He was sure she would positively squeal with happiness when she saw Emerald.

 _ **A/N: I know, this took forever to come out. I'm sorry! *ducks more pitchforks* Ack! Would you quit it? I didn't mean for the massive delay to happen.**_

 _ **Discord: C. Strife #5371**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Well, hello and welcome to chapter four. Warning ahead of time, I've been really fucking mad about certain bullshit going on in one of my other fandoms, so if I seem really irritable in any review responses, know it's not your fault. It's the other shit that's got me worked up.**_

 _ **Also, while I do appreciate the one reviewer who pointed me to Coeur's Relic of the Future as an idea for how to build their relationship…I admittedly had something more along the lines of Wayward Guardian and Daughter by AzureGigacyber on AO3 xD. Not all at once! But something like that is what you can expect in the future.**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 4***

Saphron was ecstatic at having a chance to see her adorable little brother again. He was always regarded as the baby of the family, and she was definitely worried when he finally moved out of the Arc family home to live on his own in Vale; for the first few weeks he was settling in, Saph and her wife Terra were constantly over making sure he didn't starve to death by accident. They only stopped because Jaune insisted he was fine, and they believed him. He was doing really well by himself, being one of Vale's finest.

Even if his boss was a drunk.

Saphron had met Captain Qrow Branwen a few times at several parties, and she still couldn't understand how the hell he became the Chief of Police when he seemed to be drunk constantly. She was beginning to think that he was bribing the Vale Council to keep his position.

She dismissed that idea. Qrow had made his dislike of Vale's Council very clear in the few times they spoke; he often groaned about how they were nothing but a bunch of corrupt fat old men looking for ways to put more lien in their pocket rather than protecting the interests of the people.

She was just thankful that she didn't have to deal with Qrow drunkenly calling her at three in the morning trying to flirt with her. Saphron made it quite clear to him that she wasn't interested in men, regardless of how attractive they were. Besides, Terra was everything she wanted in a woman. Warm for snuggles, a great cook, and one hell of a kisser.

Terra was finishing up putting their baby Adrian to bed, and she quietly shut the door to the room before giving the blonde a kiss. "So, what did Jaune want?"

"Nothing much." Saphron returned her wife's kiss with a wink. "I just have to grab a few old clothes of mine for something he needs. I can't imagine why. Unless he's pranking his boss as a sort of late April Fool's Day joke." _'Why do you need girl clothes, Jaune? What the hell are you doing?'_

"It's the middle of summer…" Terra let out a sigh and rubbed her temples.

"I know. Tell me about it. It's been one hell of a hot one, too. Can't remember the last time I was this hot and sweaty," Saphron complained.

"Last night. Our bed." Terra winked.

"I meant a time that _didn't_ involve us having sex." Saphron rolled her eyes playfully. "You smartass."

"You love it."

"That I do." The blonde grinned and gave her wife a gentle smack on the rear. "Maybe when I get back I can show you just how much I appreciate it, hmm?"

"Kinky." Terra's eyes grey slightly hazy, and she pushed her glasses up to prevent them from falling down her nose. "I look forward to it."

"Sorry. You'll have to wait. I'll be back." Saphron blew her a kiss and headed on out with a few bags worth of clothes from her teenager days.

The drive to Jaune's house was mostly uneventful, apart from yet another goddamn traffic jam thanks to a truck driver trying to go under a bridge that was too low. The blonde let her head crash into the middle of the steering wheel, accidentally honking the horn in the process. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

She managed to turn onto one of the many side streets to get around the worst of the congestion, and she sped to her brother's house.

Jaune was waiting for her by the door, nonchalantly sipping a cup of coffee and talking with someone on his scroll. As she approached, he sent a friendly smile her way and ended his call. "Hey, Sun, I'll call you back later, alright? I got a little business to take care of, man. No, I don't have a 'booty call'; it's my sister. Shut up, Sun."

He shook his head and slid his scroll into his back pocket. "Hey, Saph. Good to see you again."

"Likewise." Saphron waited for him to place his coffee down on a small glass table before she gave him a massive hug. "Aw, so good to see you again, baby bro~."

Jaune's face started to turn red, not from embarrassment but from having his lungs utterly crushed by the affectionate bear hug he was getting. He tapped Saphron's shoulder frantically, pointing to his mouth. "Air…!"

"Oof. Sorry, bro." Saph grinned and let him go, chuckling as he gasped for breath dramatically. "Oh, come on, I didn't give you that hard of a hug, Mr. Policeman."

Jaune rolled his eyes and stood up straighter, slicking some of his messy hair back. "Not funny, sis. Do you have the clothes?"

"Yep!" the blonde replied cheerfully, dumping three bags into his hands. Jaune caught them before they could hit the floor and split open, and Saphron's curiosity got to her. "You never told me why you needed them, baby bro. Usually you're not so secretive."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that." Her brother scratched the back of his head, inviting her inside. "It'll be much easier for me to show you than explain it."

Saphron's eyebrow rose. She was definitely curious now, more so than before, and she followed him inside. The large TV was on, and sitting on the leather couch with a big bowl of pasta was a young girl with medium-dark skin and dark red eyes. Her mint green hair was tied into a ponytail, and she looked up in a mixture of both shock and slight fear at Saphron's arrival.

Jaune noticed it, and he gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Emerald. This is my sister, Saphron. Saph, this is Emerald."

The girl was noticeably thin for her age; Saphron was willing to bet she couldn't have been older than fifteen or so. Her dark green pants were littered with rips and tears, and the blonde dropped down to show the girl she wasn't going to hurt her or anything. "Hey. I'm Saph. Jaune's my dorky little brother." She winked.

"Hey! I'm not a dork!"

"Uh, the X-Ray and Vav posters you had in your room beg to differ."

"The Mad King was a cool villain! You can't deny that!"

"Yes I can. He got defeated by two idiots because he was overly confident in his supposed 'cunning genius' and got cocky. That's not exactly cool, Jaune."

"…he trapped a cow in the floor of his house?"

"Again, not cool. Insane, definitely. But cool? Nope." Saphron made sure to pop the 'p'.

"She's got a point," Emerald added quietly. "That does seem…well, crazy." She was able to pick up that Saphron wasn't someone who would do any harm, for her overall posture relaxed a little. However that uneasy look still lingered in her gaze.

"Not you, too." Jaune let out a groan of mock defeat, his blue eyes sparkling with laughter. "My sister and adopted daughter teaming up against me. I wish I was able to see this happening. What on earth shall I do to combat this unfortunate tragedy?"

Saphron laughed. "See? You are such a total dork. And adopted daughter? You actually took her in?"

"Yeah." Jaune nodded. "I found her earlier today after I got a call about a break in. Poor girl's been living on the streets for too long, and I decided to do something about it instead of being like these other people who don't bother acting when they hear the cries of the downtrodden."

"How'd it go at the Council?" she asked.

"Screw them." Jaune scoffed. "You and I know how hard it is to adopt in Vale, when the Council's nothing more than fat old men looking for more ways to line their pockets with the peoples' money and screw us over."

Saphron winced a little. She and Terra had one hell of a time trying to win custody of Adrian after Terra and her boyfriend broke up. The courts eventually ruled in their favor after three long grueling months, and though they still got to keep the little bundle of joy, it was still something that weighed on Saph's mind; they were very close to losing a child due to the corruption of the kingdom and she didn't want that pain wished on anyone, let alone her own kin.

"Jaune, be careful," she warned. "The council may be greedy, but they're not stupid. Once word reaches them that you've taken in a child, they'll be on your doorstep in a heartbeat."

"Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing," Jaune replied, plopping down on the couch next to Emerald. "Are you hungry, sis? There should be something in the fridge if you want."

"Got any coffee made?"

"Fresh batch. Finished making it only five minutes ago. Espresso roast."

The blonde made a beeline for the kitchen, bringing out a pair of laughs from the new father-daughter duo. "COFFEE~!"

Unknown to most (apart from Jaune and Terra), Saphron had a very passionate love for coffee. It was, in her eyes, the delicious nectar of the gods that gave her the energy to go to work every day and _not_ scream in frustration at people's stupidity. There was even a shrine dedicated to the goddess of coffee in the living room of the Cotta-Arc house.

Terra didn't think anyone could be so passionate about coffee before they met.

Saphron grabbed a mug from one of the cabinets and poured a cup, letting the delicious scent of freshly brewed coffee waft up her nose. Her mouth watered in want, and she added her usual three spoonfuls of sugar and a slight dash of milk. One quick stir later, and it was ready.

The taste was simply divine, and she savored every sip.

Saphron carried her cup back into the living room, and she saw that Emerald had finally been brave enough to take a peek at some of the clothes she brought over. In her hands was a knee length lime green dress that matched her hair, and Jaune flashed her a grateful smile. "Thanks, sis. You're a real life saver, you know that? I'll go out shopping tonight to pick up some essentials, but this is a big help."

"Aww, you are certainly welcome, baby bro~." Saph smiled and gave her little brother a wet sloppy smooch on the cheek.

Jaune let out a disgusted noise and wiped his face, glaring at her. "Sis! Come on! Why do you keep calling me that!?"

"Because it is true." The blonde grinned. "You are always the baby of the family, no matter how old you get. Better suck it up and get used to it, bro."

"You suck."

"Love ya too, Jaune."

Jaune could only sigh in despair, and Saphron checked the time on her scroll. A picture message from Terra flashed across it, and she began to blush. Her wife had sent her a rather steamy nude with the caption, 'Come hither, dear,' and she let out an awkward chuckle.

"Well…I better get going." She gave Emerald a friendly smile before heading on out. "It was nice meeting you, Emerald. Keep my dorky brother in check for me, will you?"

Emerald nodded, and Jaune gave her a hug. "It was nice to see you, Saph. And thanks again."

"No problem."

Saphron was in a hurry, knowing what was waiting for her back home. Terra was going to get it.

* * *

Jaune sighed and slumped down in the couch next to Emerald. The young girl was looking at the door where Saphron left, and after a few quiet seconds she piped up. "Well…she seemed nice."

"Yeah, she is. She was always the most protective of me, too." Jaune reached forward to ruffle her hair, and he was glad that she didn't flinch away from him this time. _'Take it little by little, Jaune. You have a long way to go.'_

"So, how about me and you do some shopping in an hour or so? We can pick up some of the little things for you then."

"Sounds great."

Well…off to a good start, at least. He just hoped Sun was able to keep Qrow from doing anything stupid while he was gone.

 _ **A/N: And we're done for this one. Again, sorry this fic takes so long. I would love for it to be in the bi-weekly slot that it was originally supposed to be, but as you all know, my schedule got majorly fucked.**_

 _ **C. Strife #5371**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Well, it's been awhile I admit. Here's chapter five, and as always sorry for the delay. I honestly forgot about this one. Oops XD. Anyways, we'll move forward a few days just to keep the story moving. No point in dragging literally fucking everything out. I'd sooner sell my own organs on the internet. Not like they'd fetch a decent price with all the smoking I do…XD**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 5***

Jaune sighed as he took his seat at his desk, rubbing his temples at the massive pile of paperwork towering over him like a paper skyscraper. "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me. What the hell even is all of this, ORF?" _'Not even gone three days, and this happens. This is getting ridiculous.'_ The temptation for the blond to scream and walk in front of a bus was suddenly rather tempting, considering the alternative option of sitting in an uncomfortable chair and going through the paperwork.

" _These are all the files regarding the criminal empire in Vacuo,"_ ORF replied in her usual cheery tone. _"Captain Branwen thought you should read through them; it might help you in regards to this latest investigation."_

"Does that mean I finally got promoted to a detective now?" Jaune rolled his eyes and pulled one yellowish folder off the top of the stack delicately as to not send the entire tower crashing down onto him, looking at the documents within. "Or am I still the damn errand boy?"

"You are," Qrow said behind him. The blond turned around to see the older man standing behind him with a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand, and he took a long swig. "Kid, you deserve a promotion. You've done a lot of good work in the city. So, congrats. I hope you didn't expect a cake or anything; you know I don't do that kind of mushy bullshit."

"…does that mean I can just give all this paperwork to Sun to look through?" Jaune asked, giving the many folders a look like it was a poisonous snake about to bite him any second. "I'd really not like to deal with this paper mountain first thing in the morning." _'Or ever, for that matter.'_

"Sorry kid." Qrow grinned and gave him the middle finger, chuckling. "You better get used to it. Being a detective means you have a lot more shit to deal with. You have real responsibility now. But don't worry too much; I've given you a new personal aide. Someone who can help you keep organized."

"Who?" Jaune asked with a sigh. "For the love of Oum, it better be someone I can actually work with. I have enough to worry about right now." _'Like Emerald, for instance. I hope her and Saph are getting along okay.'_

Even though he tried his best to get a few extra days off from work, unfortunately there was simply too much that had to be done around the station. In the few short days he had been absent to take care of Emerald (such as getting clothes for her and scheduling her for school once the second semester started), the office had turned into almost pure anarchy. Sun was forced to take on some of Jaune's duties, and the monkey Faunus practically caved under the sheer amount of pressure that was forced upon him and broke down. Ren still couldn't find a way to stop Sun from shaking whenever he saw a tan folder pass his way.

"Nah. Some new kid from Mistral. Name's Gavin or something like that," Qrow answered, offering him his new shiny detective badge. "Good guy, has a brain…but sometimes he says the dumbest shit you've ever heard. Have you seen the 'People like Grapes' shirts before?"

"Yeah." Jaune nodded and accepted the badge to pin it to the front of his uniform. "…you're kidding, right? You're giving me him as an assistant? What the ever loving fuck is wrong with you, Qrow?"

"Well, for one, I—"

"Rhetorical question, Qrow. Otherwise, we'll be here all damn day," Jaune interrupted with a sigh. "So, where do you want me to start?"

"Well, the kid ain't gonna leave from Mistral until tomorrow morning; thanks to all the riots from last night's game, all flights in the kingdom have been canceled," Qrow replied. "For now, go through those files and see if you can find anything good that might help us solve this newest case. String of robberies all across Vale, in different sections of the city. Most of the strikes have been in the industrial sector, where the cops ain't the brightest. But a few have been in downtown and some even in the Vinewood Hills area."

"Got any suspects so far?" Jaune asked, taking a seat at his desk and motioning for ORF to play some calming music for him. The sound of a beautiful blues guitar and saxophone came out of a pair of small speakers, and he was half tempted to start smoking to get rid of his nerves. He had a feeling Saphron or his mother would yell at him, though. _'Nah. It isn't worth hearing them yell at me.'_

"Well, we have one in mind," Qrow said, giving him a thumbs up in approval of his choice in music. He knew what Qrow liked. "Roman Torchwick is one of them. Name should be familiar to you."

Jaune recognized the name. Roman was a very successful businessman who owned the local casino in downtown Vale as well as the cab company. He was smart, but somehow Jaune didn't think it was him; he wouldn't need that kind of money when he was already one of the richest bastards in the kingdom. _'Roman? It doesn't seem like something he'd do. He wouldn't need barely a thousand per store. It's not profitable for him.'_

"Are you sure about that?" Jaune asked skeptically. "Roman may be a gambling man, but he's not stupid. What would he gain from wasting money paying men to steal from small shops? It simply wouldn't be worth it to him. If anything, I'd say it was the Red Axe gang in the industrial sector. They have something to prove. Roman doesn't."

"You really think some small time thugs are behind this crap?" Qrow's eyebrow rose. "Well, I can't deny it's a possibility. Alright kid. We'll take a shot on this one. Go in undercover and see what you can find. Your name isn't well known amongst the criminal underworld, so you should be safe. But if things get hairy, bug out; I don't need to lose one of my best to an undercover sting gone wrong."

"Aw, you make me feel loved, Dad," Jaune said with a laugh, running a hand through his messy blond hair. "Does that mean you'll let me borrow the car this weekend?"

"Fuck no, kid. I need that to go to Hogtails later tonight." The veteran officer smirked.

"Eh, it was worth a shot. Do you do anything in your spare time besides drink and have sex with barmaids?" the blond asked exasperatedly. _'Seriously…I doubt he does anything else. He's either drunk, at work, or having sex. At least he has a schedule.'_

"Not really. It's therapy for me. Doing anything else would be inconceivable."

"You keep saying that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."

"Shut up, you little smartass." Qrow chuckled. "Coffee's done brewing downstairs; Nora came by and brought some for us since we drink it like water and ran out."

"How the hell did we manage to run out of coffee in less than a week?" Jaune asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. Part of him told him that Ruby was to blame. Whenever the girl was around coffee, dangerous things usually happened. Last time she had a lot of coffee, she bounced around the station for three hours before Qrow and Jaune could catch her and keep her in one of the holding cells until her coffee high wore off. It took another hour and a half for her to calm down, and most of the day was spent cleaning up the aftermath. He didn't want to deal with that kind of mess again if he could help it.

"It's called Ren and Sun picking up the slack during your little vacation," Qrow answered dryly. "They've must have had five cups of coffee a day trying to keep this place from overflowing with paper."

Jaune had picked up a folder and nearly dropped it. He was thankful he didn't; the thing was filled with god knows how many pieces of paper, and he didn't want to spend twenty minutes trying to pick up every single little sheet. He didn't even know what the hell half of them even contained.

"That bad, huh? I'll try not to call out if I can," he said, putting the folder down and going downstairs to the break room to find some coffee. "But maybe we ought to start hiring more people, you know? We can't only have a handful of people here. Coco's swamped enough as it is." _'We're desperately understaffed. We need more than six people here. It can't be that hard to find people willing to take on the job.'_

"You think I haven't been going through resumes?" Qrow scoffed and followed him to the break room, leaning against the doorframe while Jaune made a cup of coffee. "It ain't that easy, kid. There's certain things you have to look at. A lot of the candidates sent my way aren't any good. One has potential, but I'm not so sure if he'll pan out. Bit of a hothead."

"How bad of one?"

"He punched the manager at his last job in the face for trying to talk shit."

"Oof. Yeah, you have fun with that. And the others?" Jaune took a sip of coffee, nodding in approval at the sudden jolt of energy it gave him. _'Ah, I definitely needed that. Nothing like a good pick me up first thing in the morning.'_

"Not that great. One girl looks like she'll fit in right at home if we take the time to train her properly. Let her get used to the bullshit that goes on around here," Qrow answered, going over to the fridge to pull out a bottle of unmarked liquor and filling his flask with it. He took a long swig from it, smacking his lips. "You'll be busy with mentoring Gavin when he gets here, as well as working on this case. I think I'll leave it to Ren; he has a lot more patience than you, Sun, or Coco."

"That's for damn sure." Jaune chuckled and gave his boss a hard stare. "And you need to stop drinking on the job. That shit is gonna kill you one day." _'I swear, the man spends more time drunk than he does sober. I really don't get how he lives like this, or how his liver hasn't committed suicide at this point.'_

"Yeah, yeah. I know that." Qrow sighed and put his flask in his back pocket. "It's called depression, kid. Do yourself a favor; if you ever have a family, protect them with everything you've got. Don't ever, ever let them go." A miserable look flashed across his face, and he lowered his head.

Jaune felt a pang of sympathy for him. He, along with everyone else in the station, knew why Qrow drank as much as he did. He lost his wife in a horrific bout of illness that swept through Vale some twenty years ago, and in an attempt to cope with the loss turned to drink. He wasn't as bad as he was ten years ago, but he still struggled with his demon of addiction.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Not really. I'm finally coming to terms with it, properly." Qrow shrugged and looked at his flask, curling his lip at little. "You know…fuck this." He strode over to the sink, unscrewed the cap, and emptied the entire thing.

Jaune stared at him in surprise. Of all the things he had seen Qrow do, he never expected the man to pour an entire flask worth of alcohol down the drain. "Um…are you sure your head is on properly?"

Qrow let out a bitter laugh and chucked his empty flask aside. "Kid, I've been thinking about doing this a long time. I've spent twenty years of my damn life drinking this poison. No more. I've had enough."

He clapped a hand on Jaune's shoulder, not looking back at the bottle of liquor. "So, what say me and you get to work on all that paperwork, Detective Arc? We have a lot of shit to do."

"That we do. After you, old man."

"Smartass."

Jaune couldn't deny that since he adopted Emerald, things were starting to look up more and more for the people he cared about. The girl was definitely his good luck charm.

 _ **A/N: So, finished. I don't know where I'm going to go next, but I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it nonetheless. I do apologize for the excruciating wait between chapters; don't have thirteen ongoing stories at once, kids. No, really XD. You'll go nuts.**_

 _ **C. Strife #5371**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hello all and welcome to chapter six. I know this story is taking a long fucking time to write, but I simply have not had a muse for it lately. It's really frustrating.**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 6***

Emerald shifted nervously as she sat on the couch, both of her feet gently scuffing on the hard oak floor of the living room. She was more than a little anxious being in a big empty house completely by herself save for Saphron, for she never had that kind of privilege before in her life, and she couldn't help but wonder what time Jaune would get home. _'What time is it? I thought he'd be back by now.'_

She glanced at the clock that sat on a table next to a small plate with bread crumbs on it. It was only six thirty in the evening, meaning Jaune left work at the latest ten minutes ago and it would take a good twenty or so minutes before he got back thanks to Vale's rush hour traffic. _'Come on, you can handle it. He promised he'd come back and he's never broken a promise to you yet.'_

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, gently chiding herself for being so worrisome. _'Deep breaths, Emerald. Inhale, hold, and exhale. And stop being so paranoid.'_

Saphron came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a fluffy white towel. She had taken a quick shower while Emerald was eating dinner and was already dressed. "He still hasn't shown up yet?"

Emerald shook her head. "No. Is…is this normal?"

"Yeah." Saphron gave her an apologetic smile and sat down next to her, still drying her long hair. "He's got a lot of important work nowadays since his promotion. Captain Branwen doesn't like making him work past the hours and tries to limit it as much as he can, but Jaune's stubborn like that. When he sets out to do something, he won't stop until he finishes it."

Emerald looked down at the floor. She knew that she was being overly paranoid worrying about him the way she was, but she couldn't help it. The last person who said they would help her ended up getting killed in a gang attack. Turned out he was some lowlife drug dealer who screwed over the wrong people and thought that adopting her would spare him their wrath. No such luck as he was cut down mercilessly in a barrage of gunfire in front of her.

Her ears perked up when she heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway and she peeked over the couch to push the blinds covering the windows back. Her heart soared when she recognized it as Jaune's car and she saw the familiar messy mop of blond hair poke his head out. "He's back!"

"About friggin' time," Saphron muttered. "Making us worry like that…ooh I ought to braid his hair again! Maybe pigtails ought to teach him a lesson about making us worry so much over him. Big dummy could at least call ahead…"

With her muttering under her breath, Jaune opened the door looking absolutely disheveled and carrying a few bags. He was starting to get dark rings of exhaustion under his eyes and he let out a muffled groan as he was promptly tackled with attack hugs from Saphron and Emerald, the bags falling from his hands. "Oof!"

"Jaune! I missed you!"

"Jaune, you're back!"

Jaune let out a weak groan of pain and lifted his head from the floor, looking at both his sister and his adopted daughter. "H-hey guys, can you let me off the floor?"

"O-oh, right! Sorry!" Emerald felt heat rise to her cheeks and she got off of him, though Saphron remained firmly planted with her knees on his chest. An evil smirk crossed the blonde's face and Emerald could've sworn that Jaune had begun to sweat a lot more.

"Um, Saph? Could you please, you know…get off me?" he asked with a nervous laugh. "I'm starting to get a little cold."

"You know, you do need to get a haircut," Saphron said. "You are looking very shaggy. So how should I cut your hair, hmm?"

"Please don't," Jaune pleaded. "Let me keep my hair. I don't want it cut. Em, help me out here!"

Emerald gave Saphron her best puppy dog stare. "Please? He looks much better with that. Imagining him with some kind of short spiky hairdo is not a pleasant thought. He'd look awful!"

"Oh no, Emerald, you too?" Saphron let out a mock groan, her eyes sparkling with laughter. "Okay, fine. He can keep his hair. Though I still say he needs to at least grow a beard if he wants to look any good. He isn't getting a date with that look anytime soon."

"Hey!" Jaune protested. "I managed to go on one last week, thank you very much!"

"Jaune, buying a girl a box of sugar cookies and soda does not count as a date." Saphron rolled her eyes. "Besides I doubt Qrow would approve of you making a move on his youngest niece. He'd probably kill you. Or fire you."

"Or both," Jaune muttered, pushing his eldest sister off of him with a grunt. "And not necessarily in that order. Knowing him, he'd shoot me in the chest and then say, 'You're fired'. Jackass."

"Language," Saphron scolded. She stood up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a smile. "Alright brother, she's all yours now. I have to get home and cook dinner with my wife."

"Yeah, I know. Tell Terra I said hi."

"Will do. Bye Jaune, bye Emerald."

"Bye sis." Jaune waved as she went out the door and he groaned as he slid off his jacket. "Sorry it took me so long. It has been one hell of a hectic day."

Emerald was quiet as he pulled off his uniform's shirt, leaving a black undershirt on his chest. "Had a few kids try and rob a family corner store, then I get a call in the middle of paperwork about a drunk disturbing a barbeque. It's been one thing after another."

"Is that why you were late?" Emerald asked.

"No. That was just this morning." Jaune sighed and shook his head, heading into the kitchen with his adopted daughter in tow. He made himself a quick cup of coffee and took a sip, humming in content. "The real reason I was late was because I wanted to grab a few chicken sandwiches and there was traffic."

Emerald felt a smile on her face form on her face. It was unfamiliar to her, having had the life she did. But being with Jaune had changed that. He was just impossible to be miserable around. She liked that. "Really? That's why?"

"Yes." Jaune let out a groan and flopped down in the nearest chair. "Traffic in Vale at this hour is terrible, let me tell you. Waited at a bloody stoplight for ten minutes! Turned out the jam was caused by some idiot who was on their damn scroll and not paying attention."

"What did you do?"

"Issued him a ticket for reckless driving and picked up our food. Speaking of which, lemme grab it. Hopefully my sister didn't squish it with that flying tackle she calls a hug."

He jumped up from his seat to grab one of bags and smiled when he saw it wasn't crushed to death. "Still intact. Bread might have slid a little bit, but it's not ruined. Thank Oum for that." He placed one down in front of her with that goofy and friendly smile of his still on his face. "Go on. Oum knows you must be hungry."

He was right. She was almost feeling famished and she last ate around four hours ago or so. A quick meal of fries and chicken strips was made for her and Saph earlier and Emerald was nervous that they'd end up burning half the house down. Thankfully Saph knew how to cook. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Jaune took a bite of his own. "I have off tomorrow and want to get a few things done in the afternoon. Would you like to come?"

"Can I? I mean…I don't want to bother you…"

"You're my daughter. You wouldn't be bothering me in the slightest."

Still, despite his reassuring tone, Emerald couldn't help but feel nervous. She wasn't used to this kind of hospitality, even though it was genuine. She took a bite and was surprised at the slightly tangy taste of red onions. It wasn't unpleasant by any means; in fact it actually complimented the fried chicken very well. It was absolutely delicious.

She ate the rest of it in a few quick bites and Jaune laughed. "I swear you have a tapeworm or something. You eat a heck of a lot more than I do."

Emerald felt some heat rise to her cheeks. "H-hey!"

"I'm only teasing." Jaune laughed again with that boyish charm of his and hesitantly rested his hand on top of hers. "I used to eat a lot before I started working. Now, I'm pretty sure eighty percent of my diet is some form of caffeine."

"That sounds terrible. You should take better care of yourself, you know," Emerald chided gently. "You're important."

"I will," Jaune said solemnly. "Arc's promise. And an Arc never goes back on their word."

"Is that an old family saying? Saphron said the same thing earlier," Emerald said curiously.

"It is. It goes as far back as I can remember," Jaune replied wistfully. "I first heard my great grandfather say it to me when I was a little kid. 'No matter what, one thing an Arc never does is break a promise.' Can't tell you how many times I heard those words when I was growing up. It even applied to my dad when he drunkenly married my mother."

Emerald had taken a sip of water and almost promptly spat it out from laughing. "Y-you're kidding!"

"Nope." Jaune grinned. "My old man laughs at the story now, but it was difficult. He asked my grandfather what he should do, and you know what his response was?"

"What?"

"Son, either you take responsibility and take this here girl's hand in your own or I'm going to shove my boot in your rear and punt you across Ansel."

"You have…quite the interesting family." Emerald didn't really know what to say; she couldn't even remember her own family, having been living on the streets for as long as she had. Even though it was hot thanks to it being summer, she couldn't help but shiver at the many memories of fearing for her life on icy winter streets, clutching only a thin blanket for warmth.

' _Never again. That won't happen again. He won't let it.'_ She stole a brief glance at her adoptive father as he hummed cheerfully and took a sip of coffee. _'Somehow, I know he won't.'_ This kind of security was a beautiful change of pace from the usual uneasy feeling of not knowing if someone was going to try to attack her.

Right now she was the happiest she had been in a very long time. She didn't want it to end.

' _And it won't. He won't let that happen. I know he won't. He'll do everything in his power to make sure that I can be happy.'_

Jaune finished own sandwich and stood up with a stretch, giving her a friendly smile. "So, I did manage to get some paperwork finished. We don't have to worry about the Council kicking down my front door."

"Well…that's nice?"

"It is. My dad heard of the situation and was able to pull a few strings to make sure we don't have any complications. You're officially my daughter."

Emerald didn't know what to do besides tackle him with a flying hug.

 _ **A/N: Well, that's it from me for this today. I do wish I could do more, I really do. But my muse has been shot to shit these last few weeks with me going through a divorce. With all of this shit going on, it's really hard to be motivated at all. Most days, I feel like just going to sleep and never waking up.**_

 _ **Loveless#5371**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hello all and welcome to chapter seven. So, I've been reading the comments and it seems as though a lot of you would rather this not be an immoral romance, but rather a nice heartwarming family story. You know, I not only like the sound of that, but I honestly think it'll be easier to do. So fuck it.**_

 **The Thief's Knight**

 _Summary: He took pity on her, and decided to take her in off of the streets. Being her knight in shining armor wasn't something he planned on._

 ***Chapter 7***

Five weeks had passed for Jaune since he took Emerald in. The sudden change in his life was slowly becoming more familiar with each day and he was learning more and more about the girl he now had custody of. For one thing, she really was affectionate; he couldn't walk in the front door of his house without being put on his ass by one of Emerald's attack hugs. He definitely wasn't going to complain about it, especially with what the girl had been through in her life.

She also really, really liked mint flavored sweets, something he didn't expect at first. Though with her hair being minty green, he really ought to have seen it coming. It was like Coco and coffee; it was in her damn name for Oum's sake.

Jaune had already put Emerald to bed for the night and he frowned as he looked at the stack of mail on his desk. A few of them from Saphron had been carelessly discarded, but a few of them were from the power company, the water company; all important things. _'Well shit. It's that time of month already. Well, let me see the damage.'_

He ripped open the first one and let out a sigh of relief. Okay, the water bill wasn't as bad as he initially feared. He knew it would inevitably rise with there being another person in the house, but it was still less than expected. A pleasant surprise, albeit a welcome one. _'Alright. That can get taken out of my account tomorrow, provided a disaster doesn't show up. Now for the electricity.'_

He opened the second one and hummed. He had a habit of making sure every light in the house was off before a certain time, even going so far as to make sure nothing was unnecessarily plugged in. As a result, it meant his power bill was still nice and low, just how he liked it. _'And that one is taken care of. No issue there.'_

With that all sorted out, Jaune took out his scroll and looked to see he had a few messages from Qrow. The first one was, 'Why is my niece in jail again?' and the second was, 'Never mind, I heard she was an idiot again and was caught joyriding. Tell Sun I'm giving him a pay raise.'

Jaune snorted in laughter at them. If there was one thing he learned about Qrow's supposed niece that he had arrested almost six weeks ago, it was that she was not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Only an idiot would try to rob a police officer in broad daylight, so she fit the description for, 'Fucking idiot'.

Hell, even Qrow called her that when he visited her in one of the holding cells. Sun howled with laughter for days afterwards, calling it the best family dispute he had ever seen.

His scroll vibrated again and Sun's name flashed across the screen. _'Speak of the devil. Good, maybe I can tell him all about this and he won't automatically declare bullshit like he did when we told him we replaced his car tires for free.'_ "Hey Sun. What's going on, man?"

" _Hey, Jaune, bro what's up!?"_ Sun yelled, laughing. _"We've got a nice party going on at my place tonight and a whole bunch of people are here! You should come along!"_

Part of Jaune did want to go. It would be nice to finally go out again and interact with people his own age. If he was lucky, maybe he'd get a date or two out of it. But a sudden surge of over protectiveness took over him and he shook his head. _'No I can't. I can't leave Emerald by herself. Especially not at night.'_

"Sorry man, I can't make it," he apologized, running a hand through his blond hair that was really starting to grow out now. "I've got a few things I need to do. Maybe next time." _'Hair's getting longer now. I can't lie and say I don't like it. Did always tell my sisters that I wanted a warrior's wolf tail.'_

" _Wow man you're a real stick in the mud. What are you doing, babysitting?"_ Sun asked with a snort. Oh if only he knew how correct he was. Well, Jaune wouldn't exactly call it that. He'd call it something along the lines of, 'Being a responsible adult'.

"No. It's called I'm responsible and don't feel like getting shitfaced drunk at eleven in the night," the blond returned dryly. "Don't be stupid and let anyone drink and drive. If you do, I swear to Oum I'm going to tell your girlfriend to do murderous things to your asshole."

" _Yeah, yeah. I get it, Dad. You're not gonna let me borrow the car this weekend. I'll chat you later."_ The blond Faunus chuckled.

"At least pretend to be sober…" Jaune muttered. "We already got Qrow to stop drinking; we don't need someone to replace him as the office's resident alcoholic."

" _Sure thing, man. See ya."_ Sun hung up the call.

Jaune rolled his eyes and placed his scroll down, scratching at his chin a little. He hadn't shaved in over a month and he could feel his beard finally start to grow in. It was a nice change from his normally clean shaved appearance; it did make him look a little more rugged. However there was one downside to it.

It was itchy as hell. Every thirty minutes or so he had an overwhelming urge to scratch his face if just to make the sensation go away. Times like those made him seriously wonder how the hell Qrow put up with the scruffy stubble along his cheeks. _'Ah shit. I forgot to mention to him that Qrow was going to give him a pay raise. Fuck it, he's drunk as hell and won't remember me saying it. I'll tell him tomorrow morning at work when he's sober.'_

Jaune let out a yawn and stretched in his chair. He was feeling tired now, having to run around a lot more with him having custody of Emerald. Having custody was a lot more strenuous than he ever imagined. Every day there was an enormous list of things for him to do around the house, whether it be cooking or doing laundry.

He thanked his sisters every day that they took the time to teach their only brother how to do a lot of household work. If they didn't, he'd have never survived on his own, let alone take care of someone else. He didn't want to think what would possibly happen to Emerald or himself if that was the case.

' _Alright. It's time to be a responsible adult and get some sleep. I can't afford to come in overtired. Nothing will get done.'_ Jaune let out another yawn and stood up from his chair, stripping down to his boxer shorts. He set an alarm for 6:30 in the morning, taking one more glance at his scroll for the night. 10:23pm. Not the latest he had stayed up, being accustomed to sometimes having to work at home until midnight or later at least once a week.

He stashed his scroll under his pillow and went to sleep. He'd need it.

* * *

Jaune woke up with a start, sitting upright in bed. His scroll's alarm blared loudly in his ears and he groaned before disabling it. The loud racket was enough to wake up anyone in the vicinity and he silently hoped that Emerald didn't wake up from it. After the hell she had to deal with earlier in her life, she could use all the peaceful sleep she could get.

He looked at the time through squinted eyes and groaned before rolling out of bed. _'Time to get up and make some coffee.'_ He stretched his arms out with a yawn, haphazardly stumbling over to the wardrobe to pull out his uniform. He had a feeling today was going to be a very busy day down at the station.

Jaune took a quick look at himself in the mirror to see how he looked and nodded in approval. The reflection showed a young man on the cusp of finally looking a little bit more rugged. In his line of work, appearance mattered. Though that never stopped Sun from constantly wearing his jacket wide open. Jaune believed that if Sun could get away with being topless, he'd do it in a heartbeat. _'Qrow really needs to get on him for that. We're supposed to be keeping the peace in the city not look like we belong in a nightclub.'_

Actually, he banished that idea. If Sun couldn't walk around with his jacket open then Coco didn't get to wear sunglasses on the job and Ruby was banned from coffee entirely. They may have still looked like goofy kids, but at least they got the job done when it was time to get serious.

Jaune walked into the kitchen, ready to pour himself a cup of coffee, and he saw that Emerald had in fact woken up from the sound of his alarm. _'Crap.'_ "Good morning. Why are you up so early?"

"Heard your alarm going off," Emerald answered quietly, yawning. She was in a pair of white pajama pants and olive green shirt and he noticed she was wearing his pair of bunny slippers.

"You're already heading into work?" she asked.

"Yeah." Jaune nodded and poured a large cup, drinking in the scent of it longingly. Nothing better to wake up to in the morning. "Should be home by two in the afternoon today, providing I don't get a random call in the afternoon." He sure as hell hoped he wouldn't.

He took a sip and breathed out a content groan. "Just what I needed. It'll give me the energy to deal with the rest of the day. You nervous about going to school this semester or no?"

"A-a little," Emerald admitted, lowering her head with an embarrassed look. "Never really went."

"I know. Trust me, it'll be alright." The blond gave her a reassuring smile. "The bus will be here at 7:30. You better get ready; you don't want to be late for your first day."

"Right." Emerald went off to get ready and she looked over her shoulder. "Thanks…Dad."

Jaune froze. She had never called him, 'Dad' before. He placed his cup down and crossed the kitchen before kneeling down and giving her a hug.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Jaune waved to Ruby as he walked into the office, a warm smile on his face. "Morning Ruby."

"Morning Jaune!" Ruby chirped, her fingers flying over her keyboard. "You're in a chipper mood today! Something happen at home?"

Jaune smiled and slurped on his coffee some more. "You could say that. Remember what I told you a few weeks ago?"

"Of course!" She nodded. Coco came over to join in on the conversation.

"She called me 'Dad' today. She's never done that," Jaune confessed.

"Well aren't you pleased as punch." Coco rolled her eyes playfully.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jaune shook his head in mock denial, hiding his smirk with another sip of coffee. "So, what's on our, 'Prevent Qrow From Doing' list for the day? The usual?"

"Nope. He's sober. How's your assistant treating you?" Coco asked.

Jaune looked passed her to see that his assistant Gavin was trying to fan out a fire that erupted on his desk. "…how…?" _'Yep, called it. I knew I would need coffee to get through the day.'_ Some things just never changed.

"I don't bloody know!" Gavin exclaimed. "The bleeding thing just caught fire! This is utter bollocks!"

Jaune could only shake his head while Coco sighed in despair. "Fire extinguisher is to your left."

Yep. It was gonna be a long day at the office.

 _ **A/N: So, out with the Topaz (it would be immoral as fuck). In with…well, not sure I want this as a shipping fic with anyone to be honest. I don't have anyone set up at the moment and I am not gonna turn this into a crossover at all. So, who could be a good mother figure for this? I haven't the slightest fucking clue to be honest. So I'll leave it to a vote. Tell me what you think!**_

 _ **A Lovestruck A2#5371**_


End file.
